Earlier, military police had said they feared more than two dozen people were killed in yesterday morning accident, which saw both vehicles engulfed in flames on the roadside.
Both an investigator and a spokeswoman for the highway patrol yesterday said five people were killed. They requested anonymity, citing department rules.
The press relations office for the military police who said earlier there were fears that as many as 30 people had been killed did not return repeated phone calls seeking comment about the discrepancy in the death toll.
Police said the vehicles were engulfed in flames by the time they arrived and there was little they could do to try to save passengers.
The crash happened about 1,900 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro.